This means the Virginia State House will* be split 50 Republicans, 50 Democrats.
So not only did that one vote make a difference in that one seat, but it made sure neither party is in full control of the legislator. Had the vote gone the other way the Virginia State House would have been 51 Rep, 49 Dems.

In the Virginia State Senate the Republicans have a slight advantage, 21-19. However, with Democrats holding both the Lt. Governorship (who can break ties), and the Governorship (who has veto power), Republicans in the Virginia State Senate may be forced to adopt a more bi-partisan agenda.

*Note: Not the final word, there are two other recounts happening this week. This recount was the closest, the the Republicans up 10 votes to start with. The other two, in one, Republicans start with a 82 vote lead, and in another Democrats start with a 336 lead. Democrats are actually requested a completed new election in the former, as 100 voters were mistakenly given ballots for the wrong legislative district.

Edited by sierraleone, 19 December 2017 - 09:17 PM.

Rules for surviving an Autocracy:

Rule#1: Believe the Autocrat.
Rule#2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.
Rule#3: Institutions will not save you.
Rule#4: Be outraged.
Rule#5: Don't make compromises.
Rule#6: Remember the future.
- Masha Gessen
Source: http://www2.nybooks....r-survival.html

One phrase that's been resonating with me lately is "every vote counts." Except... it really doesn't, and it's designed that way on purpose. Winner-take-all elections and gerrymandering and pick-one voting all have the effect of making as few votes matter as possible. If there's no difference between 51% and 100%, and if you're guaranteed 51%, then f*ck those other 49% of your electorate. Then candidates are incentivized to be the most extreme member of the majority party that they can possibly be. And then you get Roy Moore and Donald Trump.

That's the fundamental reason we need approval voting and proportional allocation and an end to gerrymandering: to make every vote matter, so moderation is incentivized and extremism dies.

^ Not bothered at all I agree. I prefer Re-weighted Range Voting, but that might be because I like to analyze things to a degree to which most people would say I have *over* analyzed However approval voting would be the easiest to understand for voters, and I figure the easiest to implement and tabulate as well. Rank or regular range voting wouldn't be bad either.

Rules for surviving an Autocracy:

Rule#1: Believe the Autocrat.
Rule#2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.
Rule#3: Institutions will not save you.
Rule#4: Be outraged.
Rule#5: Don't make compromises.
Rule#6: Remember the future.
- Masha Gessen
Source: http://www2.nybooks....r-survival.html

It also looks like that one of those ballots in the 1-vote-difference election mentioned in the first post had been declared to have been a spoiled ballot, and has now been re-declared a Republican vote, putting the votes tied 50-50. The winner will be determined via a random method: WaPo. They have a scanned copy of the ballot if you'd like to look at it and see what you'd determine about it. The lines through the filled out circles for their governor and one delegate are hard to see, but there. And 2 out of the 4 delegate options seems to be selected...

Edited by sierraleone, 20 December 2017 - 10:47 PM.

Rules for surviving an Autocracy:

Rule#1: Believe the Autocrat.
Rule#2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.
Rule#3: Institutions will not save you.
Rule#4: Be outraged.
Rule#5: Don't make compromises.
Rule#6: Remember the future.
- Masha Gessen
Source: http://www2.nybooks....r-survival.html

^Yet more crap that doesn't happen in a properly designed election system. The fact that that many votes can be reinterpreted in successive recounts calls the entire process into question. Every ballot should be on paper, marked by a machine on-site, then read by a machine on-site so the voter can confirm it machine-reads as intended, then put in a lock box.

And every ballot should be recorded on paper, AND in a RAID of write-once electronic memory, AND transmitted over the internet to off-site storage in real time. That way it's also impossible to lose or spoil ballots.

And every ballot should also be marked with a cryptographic timestamp, making it impossible for fake ballots to be cast undetectably.

And voters should have the option of casting a second calibration ballot which doesn't count towards the outcome, but is trackable online to make sure it's counted correctly.

Seriously, people. These are solved problems. The fact that election system IT looks like it's cobbled together by people with no knowledge of information security is insane.

The draw to break the tie happened today. The Republicans got it, so they have 51 seat to the 49 democrat seats in the state house. Assuming that two other races recounts/challenges don't change matters, though their vote differences were both larger.

Edited by sierraleone, 04 January 2018 - 05:22 PM.

Rules for surviving an Autocracy:

Rule#1: Believe the Autocrat.
Rule#2: Do not be taken in by small signs of normality.
Rule#3: Institutions will not save you.
Rule#4: Be outraged.
Rule#5: Don't make compromises.
Rule#6: Remember the future.
- Masha Gessen
Source: http://www2.nybooks....r-survival.html

But see, that is okay. When it's between Democrats in Iowa with a coin toss (which was never determined to be true), people go nuts, but Republicans in Virginia? Perfectly fine.

El~ blue crystal glows, the dark side unseen, sparkles in scant light, from sun to planet, to me in between ~

I want a job in HRC's "shadow" cabinet. Good pay, really easy hours, lots of time off. Can't go wrong.

"You have a fair and valid point here. I've pointed out, numerous times, that the Left's or Democrats always cry "Racist" whenever someone disagrees with them. I failed to realize that the Right or Republicans do the same thing with "Liberal"." ~ LotS